Timothy Spall, Keeley Hawes to star in 'Summer of Rockets' miniseries

Timothy Spall will co-star in the BBC miniseries "Summer of Rockets." File Photo by David Silpa/UPI | License Photo

May 20 (UPI) -- Toby Stephens, Keeley Hawes, Linus Roache and Timothy Spall will star in "Summer of Rockets," a six-part BBC drama set in the 1950s.

Stephen Poliakoff -- whose credits include Close to the Enemy, Lost Prince and Shooting the Past -- wrote and will direct the project, which is filming now in London and Oxford.

"Samuel, played by Toby Stephens, is a 40-something Russian Jewish émigré, inventor and designer of bespoke hearing aids, whose clients include former Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill," a news release said. "The series follows Samuel and his family, wife Miriam and children Hannah and Sasha, as he is approached by MI5 to demonstrate his work. Yet it is not his inventions the operatives require -- instead Samuel is tasked with the secret mission of obtaining information about his charming, newly acquired friends Kathleen, played by Keeley Hawes and her husband Richard Shaw MP, played by Linus Roache, through whom Samuel also meets the impressive Lord Arthur Wallington, played by Timothy Spall."

The project will reunite Stephens and Poliakoff, who previously collaborated on the 2001 BBC drama Perfect Strangers.

"It's great to be working with Stephen Poliakoff again after such a long time. I loved working with him on Perfect Strangers; he's such a unique and original voice in British television. It's also good to be filming something back home in the UK for the BBC. It's been a while," Stephens said in a statement.

"I have wanted to work with Stephen for years, so I'm delighted to be part of such a wonderful cast, and can't wait to spend the summer with them all," Hawes added.